Machine for trimming lasted shoes



y 14, 1953 B. JORGENSEN 2,644,967

MACHINE FOR TRIMMING LAS'IED SHOES Filed May 29, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 rdfJQge nJen Patented July 14, 1953 UNITED STATES RATE MACHINE FOR. TRIMMING LASTED 'SHQES Bernhardt Jorgense'n, Marblehead, -Mass., asj signo'r to Unitedshoe 'Machinery Corporatiomga v Flemington, N; J a corporation of New 'Jersey 53.,

Application Maize, 1952, Serial N .'290,620

I 8 Claims. (o1.12-s3.5)

This invention relates to trimmingmachines, and is more particularly concerned with providing improvements in shoe machines for severing and removing surplus upperand associated material commonly found on the bottom of a toe I after a toe-lasting operation. While theinvention is herein illustrated and described as being employed in a machine for operating on cementlasted shoe bottoms,,the problem of obtaining smooth toe contour in such shoes being cone sidered to be of special importance to securing neat lines in the finished, shoes, it will be understood that use of the invention in certain of its aspects is not thus limited but may Well have application to other types of footwear and in other trimming machines.

A machine or attachment embodying the invention about to be described is operable either in combination with, i. e. under the control of, a toe lasting machine or entirely independently thereof and as a separate unit. For use in conjunction with cement toe-lasting machines constructed generally, for example, as disclosed in United States Letters Patent 2,324,509, granted on July 20, 1943, upon an application of mine, toe pressing and trimming means such as that disclosed in a pending application, Serial No. 100,812, filed June 23, 1949, in my name, and

also as disclosed in United States Letters Patent 2,437,696, granted on March 16, 1948, on an earlier application of mine have been proposed. The arrangements thus afforded provide for the reception of a toe lasted shoe and application by a flexible presser member of pressure to the cement-lasted marginal portion of the toe end' proven highly productive; and thoughthe ma- I chines shown in the above-mentioned patent and application do, in general, operate satisfactorily, the unyielding character of the trimming knife in advancing over the presser member when the latter is convexlyflexed by a shoe, undesirably affects wearing life of the parts and ultimately the ability of the machine to obtain clean cutting and disposal of the tough, cemented upper material. p

A principal object'of the present invention accordingly is to provide cutting or trimming means better adapted to cooperate with pressing mechanism of the flexible member type just mentioned,

especially when operating on shoes having curved danger of fouling toe bottoms as found in most footwear for'women, and thus obtain a trimmed shoe bottom of smoother contour. To this end, the upper-engaging pre sser plate of the earlier construe: tion is retained inasmuch as it is flexible enough to conform to such varying curvature as'the bottom of the toe end of a shoe mayjhave; For cooperating with said plate, and as anovel featureof the invention, there is .provided in lieu of a rigid straight edged blade, aflexible knife I Another object of the invention is to rid the lasted shoe of the excess material on the bottom of its toe end by providing, together with the novel trimming mechanism, an improved ejector for sweeping the severedwaste from the flexible knife immediately after itsc utting mo /fe ment and toward a suitable-receptacle. Accordingly, a feature of the invention resides in,

the combination with a trimming knife fofla pivotally mounted ejector and means for swiftly pivoting said ejector in close relation to, and in thesame direction as, the advancing knife after completion of cutting, immediately'and forcibly to remove the waste and thus eliminate 7 during the return stroke; of

the knife. 3

The above and other features of the invention will now be more' fully described as applied'in connection with anillustrative toe pressing-and trimming attachment fora cement toe'lasting machine in which they are embodied and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which 1 I Fig. l is a View in sidev elevation and partly in section of the improved toe'trimming and waste ejecting means in'starting position togetherwith fluid pressure actuating mechanism "therefor, the latter being shown with shoe positioning means"substantiallyas disclosed in F'ig. 20f the above mentioned application;

Fig. 2 is a viewpartly inleft-handsidei'ele vation and partlyin section, showing a portion of the toe pressing and trimming means on an enlarged scale and illustrating the a'ction of the trimming knife on a shoe, this view corre-' sponding with Figure 7 of the abovereferred to application for purposes of easy comparison} Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the trimming and waste ejecting means, as'seen from the rear of NT QFFICB 3 the machine, further enlarged and illustrating details of their mounting; and

Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV--IV of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows, the transverse flexure of the trimming knife being slightly exaggerated toshow its operative relation with the presser.

Inasmuch as the shoe positioning means as well as power means for operating the instrumentalities of the toe pressing and trimming apparatus are, essentially, as fully disclosed in my above cited application, said means will hereinafter be only briefly described and to the. extent deemed necessary for a complete'understanding of the present invention.

The operating elements of the illustrative machine comprise a thin presser or plate It) (Figs. 1, 2 and 4) (substantially like the plate 100 of Letters Patent No. 2,437,696 and plate 84 of said application) for engaging the marginal portion of the upper U over an insole I and pressing it against the insole when the toe of a shoe is forced upwardly, a flexible trimming knife l2 cooperative with said presser, and an ejector [4 for disposing of waste material severed by the knife from successive shoe bottoms. For purposes of this illustration, an adjacent fluid-pressure operated toe lasting machine (not shown) develops and maintains adequate fluid under pressure in an accumulator 16 (Fig. l). the latter being charged via a pipe I8 and formed as a casting mounted on the frame of the lasting machine. Securedon the top of the accumulator I6 is a plate 20 on which a casting 22 is mounted for housing that portion of the pressing and trimming means hitherto disclosed. A top casting 24 partially encloses, with its pivotal cover 26, that portion of the novel pressing and trimming means to which attention is herein being more particularly directed.

A shoe having its toe lasted is presented bottom upward (Figs. 2 and 4) for engagement of the marginal portion of its upper overlying the insole with the presser Hi. The latter is removably mounted in horizontal recesses in the sides of the casting 24 and is provided with a recessed or inwardly curved portion 28 defining the surplus upper material extending inwardly thereof and to be trimmed away. Preferably the portion 28 is generally U-shaped and bounded by a distinct presser edge 30. Being flexible, the presser It) will extend inwardly only over the marginal portion of the shoe bottom around the end and along the sides of the toe, and conform to the convex curvature lengthwise and widthwise of the shoe bottom in response to pressure of the shoe thereon. As in the cited application the shoe is forced upwardly against the presser l0 imposing thereon substantially the convexity of the shoe bottom curvature, a toe rest 32 being arranged to engage the top face of the toe underneath. This rest is supported on the upper end of a piston 34 vertically movable in a cylinder formed in a casting 36 secured to the plate 20. The piston is held initially in its lowest position, as shown in Fig. l, by a pair of springs 38 (only one shown) connected at their lower ends to the casting 36 and at their upper ends to a pin 40 extending through the piston and through slots 42 in the casting. Accordingly, to move the piston 34 upwardly and thus to force the shoe against the presser 10 as shown in Figure 2, fluid under the control of a. valve (not here shown but identified as 102 in said application and associated with the fluid pressure system of the lasting machine) is admitted from the accumulator IE to the lower end of the cylinder. Operation of the valve may conveniently be effected upon presentation of the shoe itself, as set forth in said application, the toe engaging a U-shaped flexible band 44 which also serves properly to position the toe of the shoe lengthwise and widthwise relatively to the presser [0. The shoe is held clamped between the toe rest 32 and the presser while the latter masks the overlasted marginal portion of the upper to be retained on the shoe bottom and until the trimming knife [2 and ejector l4 have operated and returned to their initial positions shown in Figure 1.

For removing surplus material inwardly beyond the presser the flexible knife l2 extends widthwise of the shoe and is provided with a sharp cutting edge (Figs. 3 and 4) of a length to bridge the widest part of the recessed portion 28 of the presser. The knife iscarried lengthwise and heightwise or the shoe until, during toeward, i. e., rearward movement, a pair of knife holders 52, 52', arranged for contactual relation with opposite portions of the presser l0 and receiving opposite end portions of the knife, restrain said knife portions for movement along paths adjacent to said opposite presser portions.

1 Intermediate cutting portions of the edge 50, due

to the means provided for mounting and actuating the holders 52', 52, only come: into operative contact with the presser 10 after heel-like portions 54, 54 respectively of the holders have moved into initial engagement therewith, there.- by avoiding any tendency for the blade to dig into the work or the presser surface and affording the blade ample opportunity to. be flexed by the latter so as to adjust itself to the transverse curvature of' the shoe. bottom as. imparted to the presser. Each holder 52 is provided with a slot 55 for snugly seating a heelward end portion of the knife, Figs. 2 and 3. For detachably locking the knife in its slots 56, leaf springs 58, 5| have. their respectivev lower ends screwed to the holders. 52 and the. yieldable upper ends respectively engagev the. heads. of pinsv 60,. 68 (Fig. 32). extending, through the holders and through spaced holes in the. knife l2. By prying the heads. upwardly against the springs 5& to. free the knife from the lower ends of the pins 60,, 50. the knife may readily'be removed from. the slots 56 and another knife inserted if desired.

As: best seen in Figures 3 and 4 each knife holder 52 is affixed by a setscrew 62 to av transversely extending pivot pin 64 rotatably received by' one end of. a. lever 56. The latter are pivotally suspended on respective downwardly extending arms 6B of a bell crank lever 14. mounted. on a shaft 12 on the casting 24. For urging. the cutting edge 5% upwardly from the shoe bottom, and especially effective in the. initial non-operating position shown in Figure l, a pair of relatively weak tension springs I4, 14 have their upper ends connected to the arms 68', respectively, and their lower ends are. secured to. pins N, 16 projecting from the pivot pins 64. A pair of considerably stronger tension springs '18, 18 have their lower ends respectively affixed to the front ends of the levers 66 and have their upper ends secured respectively to threaded stems 88. The latter are respectively received by forwardly extending arms 82 of the bell crank lever N and carry knurled adjusting screws 84 by which the force exertedv by the springs 18 and tending to lower the cutting edge toward the shoe bottom may be adjusted. Stop screws 86, .86 (Figs. 1 and 2) extend through the levers 66 toabut faces 88 of the arms 68 and thus limit inone direction (counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 1) the pivotal movement of the levers 66 and assure engagement of the portions 54, 54 with the presser I prior to operative engagement of the blade I2 therewith.

To operate the knife I2 the bell crank lever I0 is swung clockwise as viewed in Figure 1 (compare Fig. 2), rearwardly extending dissimilar arms 89 and 90 of the lever being provided with a pin 92 on which is pivotally mounted the upper end of a link 94. The lower end of this link is pivotally connected to an upper end of a piston 96 vertically movable in a cylinder 98 formed in a casting I00 which is secured on the plate in contiguous relation tothe casting 3t. Against the resistance of return springs I02, the piston 96 is moved upwardly to operate the knife I2 by fluid admitted to the lowerend of the cylinder 98 by a valve (not shown) operative at a predetermined time in the operating cycle of the adjacent toe lasting machine. It will be understood that the valve subsequently acts automatically, not only to release the clamped shoe to a shoe receiver I04 but also to release fluid from the cylinder 98 thereby permitting the springs I02 to return the knife I2 to initial position after completion of the trimming stroke. As the arms 58 are lowered from the position seen in Figure 1 to that shown in Figure 2,the portions 54, 54 contact opposite portions of the presser I0 as shown in Figure 4 to effect independent pivotal movement of the knife holders 52 on the pivot pins 64, 64 thus lowering the edge 50 against the influence of the springs I4, I4 for trimming action. The levers 65 are consequently moved clockwise relatively to the arms 68 (as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2) against the tension of the springs I8, I8. shoe and the cutting edge 50 is brought to bear cooperatively on the presser I0 to sever the surplus upper material extending inwardly of, and upwardly above, the presser edge 30, Fig. 4.

To remove the severed waste material before it can interfere with return movement of the knife I2, the ejector I4, of any suitable material such as semi-stiff leather, is mounted above the;

toe of the shoe for rapid pivotal movement relative to the advancing knife I2 and operatively toward a chute IIO (Figs. 1 and 2). For driving the ejector in timed relation to the cutting stroke, the knife operating means is used, as will now be described, to actuate a motion multiplying linkage. A lever II2, to the lower end of which the ejector is affixed, is fulcrumed above midpoint in its length on a yoke I I4 secured by a setscrew IIE (Fig. 3) to the shaft I2. The upper endof the lever H2 is pivotally connected to a link II8 having pivotal connection with a lower arm I20 of a bell crank lever I22. The latter is pivotally mounted on a pin I24 extending through the yoke I I4 and an upper arm I26 of the bell crank lever I22 (shorter than the arm I20) has pivotal connection with a link I28. This link I28 is shifted by a bell crank lever I30 having a relatively long upper arm I32 and a shorter arm I34; The lever I30 is fulcrumed on a bracket I36 affixed to the casting 24, the arm I34 being disposed to be engaged by a projection I38 adjustably secured to the rearward extremities of the arms 89 and 90. Thus, as indicated in phantom by dash lines in Fig. 2, upward movement of the link 94 to operate the knife I2 is accompanied in its last stage by The knife I2 is carried toeward of the plied motion is transmitted through the described linkage to the ejector I4 which is thus caused quickly to sweep through itsoperating arc in tangential relation to the knife I2 just as it has completed its trimming stroke but is still advancing toeward. This fast-acting ejector there-' by thrusts the severed waste from the knife and rearwardly into the chute I00. ,.A spring I40connecting the yoke II4 with an ear I42 of the lever I22 servesto return the ejector operating linkage 'to initial position as soon as'the movement of the knife I2 has. beenreversed by influence of the springs I02. A stop pin I44 aflixed to the arm I20 is arranged to abut the yoke H4 and so limits the return movement of the ejector I4.

Referring to Figure 4 briefly to review the novel trimming action of theknife I2, it will be noted that the knife holders 52, 52, while engaging the flexed presser I0 with their heel portions 54, 54 also restrain the extremities of the knife I2. The latter may be made sufliciently flexible fully to conform to the curvature imposed by the shoe bottom on the presser, but preferably the flexible knife will be slightly stiffer so asto enable the cutting edge 50 to assume slightly less curvature and to bear only at, or adjacent to, the well-defined edge 30 of the presser. This latter arrangement is foundto provide a, knife curvature adjusting to that of the shoe bottom and obtains clean cutting while assuring longer operating life of the trimming parts.

Having described the invention what isclaimed as novel and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for trimming the lasted marginal upper material onthe bottom of the forepart of a shoe including a thin presser means for applying pressure to the overlasted marginal portions of said shoe, said presser means having an inner curved contour for defining the material to be trimmed, blade holders arranged for contactual relation with opposite portions of said presser means, and a flexible blade carried by said holders and extending transversely of the bottom of the shoe, said holders and presser means being cooperatively related to flex said blade to conform at least a portion thereofsubstantially to the transverse curvature of the shoe bottom.

2. A machine for trimming the lasted marginal upper material on the bottom of the forepart of a shoe comprising a flexible U-shaped presser for. engaging and masking the marginal upper material to be retained on the shoe bottom adjacent to the side and toe edges, trimming means including a flexible cutting blade extending widthwise of the shoe to bear on said pressenand a pair of pivotally mounted members respectively engageable with said presser on opposite outer portions thereof for carrying the end portions of said blade lengthwise of the shoe and adjacent to the presser, the intermediate portions of said blade being movable heightwise of theshoe by operative engagement with the inner portions of the presser. I y

3. In a shoe trimming machine for operating on lasted upper material, a conformable presser for pressing the lasting margin at the toe and having an inner curved portion defining the material to be trimmed from the shoe bottom, a

er by engagement of the bottom of the toe end of the shoetherewith.

t. In a machine for trimming surplus upper material" from theibottomof the toe end of a lasted shoe, means conformable to. the toe, bottom curvature for pressing the marginal. portions of the upper, said means extending inwardly of the shoe bottom to. provide a generally u-shaped edge outlining that portion of the margin of the upper to be trimmed, a flexible knife extending widthwise of the shoe, knife; holders movable. into engagement. with and then along, said means operatively to carry the knife lengthwise, of the shoe, said holders restraining the respective opposite ends of the knife while the intermediate portion thereof fl-exedby cooperative engagement of its cuttingedge with the inwardly curved edge of said means.

5. In a machine, for trimming surplus marginal upper material from the bottom of an end of lasted shoe, means. for receiving and holding the shoe, a flexible presser having arecessed portion and engageablewith pressure on the marginal portion of the. upper on the bottom of the shoe while it is. so held, a flexible trimming knife extending widthwise of the shoe, spaced knife hold em engageahle. with the presser and respectively mounted to assume positions determined by their individual engagement with the presser, and means for moving; said holders to carry the knife lengthwise of the, shoe, said knife being adapted to be flexed by engagement with the plate along the edge defining said'recessed portion during operative movement of the knife.

6., In a machine for removing lasted marginal upper material from a shoe bottom, a flexible trimming knife, extending widthwise ofthe shoe, means for moving said knife lengthwise of the shoe bottom to sever marginal upper material during advance of the knife toward an end of the shoe, an ejector pivotally mounted for movement in tangential relation to the knife during its advance, and mechanism for operating said ejector intimed relation to the trimming stroke of the knife to sweep away the severed material, said mechanism being operable by said knife moving means.

7:. In a shoe trimming machine, a flexible plate conformable to'the surface curvature of a portion of a shoe to be trimmed and having an edge defining the surplus material to be severed from said surface, a pair of knife holders arranged to engage said plate in spaced relation thereto and movable relatively to said plate, a flexible knife carried by said holders and extending transversely of. the defining ec'ge of said plate, and means associated with the holders for yieldlngly urging the cutting edge of the knife toward the plate during trimming and away from the plate upon reverse movement thereof.

8. In a shoe trimming machine, a thin shearing plate conformable to. the contour of the bottom of a shoe, a flexible trimming knife provided with a cutting edge, means for supporting said knife arranged to permit the knife to be flexed to conform itself substantially to the contour of the shearing plate, said means comprising pivotally mounted knife holders spaced on opposite sides of an edge of said plate and arranged to restrain opposite ends, respectively, of the knife for movement adjacent to the plate, each holder having a plate-engaging portion slotted to receive a knife end in. back of the cutting edge, and means for actuating said holders to carry the curved cutting edge of the knife transversely of said plate edge.

BERNHARDT J ORGENSEN.

No references cited. 

